


RWBY: Silver Eyes and Shadow Games

by DarthDakka



Category: Babylon 5, RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-09 20:56:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12284274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthDakka/pseuds/DarthDakka
Summary: As three young huntresses search for their team mate and another searches for a resolution to her past, a mysterious explosion rocks the Kingdom of Vale, bringing with it fear, uncertainty, and a couple of new faces...(Disclaimer: Foreknowledge of Babylon 5 is not needed for this story. Also, there will be NO romance between the original characters and the cast of RWBY)





	1. Chapter 1

Author's Introduction:  
Before the story begins, I'd like to address the elephant in the room. This story does involve a pair of original characters in a somewhat prominent role. However, the point of the original characters isn't so they can overshadow or replace the canon characters. The point of their inclusion to the story is more 'Let's throw these two characters into the pot and stir, then see how things turn out'. It's not to make a universe which is inherently 'better' or 'worse' than the canon one.  
As for the original characters themselves, they're both from a (still unfinished) Babylon 5 and Doctor Who crossover fan fiction series of my own making. Fortunately, knowledge of those series or my other stories is not needed to understand and enjoy this one. The relevant details will be touched upon in story as it goes on. Also, this isn't part of the 'canon' of my other fanfic series, it's a what-if story.  
But that's enough jabbering, let's jump into my first attempt at a RWBY fanfic. So, without further ado, we begin a story of monsters, men and magic...

Part 1: New Kids on the Block  
Chapter 1

A presence dark invades the fair,  
and gives the horses ample scare,  
for chaos reigns and panic numbs,  
when something wicked this way comes.  
-Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

"Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness."  
-Katherine Henson

From where it perched atop an impressive cliff, Beacon Academy overlooked the city of Vale below, like an ever-watchful sentinel. One that promised safety and security for all. A place where legends were made.

In the center of a forest of arches and other buildings, a massive three-pronged concrete spire towered over the campus. The emerald glow at it's glass apex pushed back the expiring darkness of the night. For it was dawn, and the amber light of the rising sun was beginning to spread across Beacon Academy. It had already advanced across the pools and green fields that comprised the campus' wide, sprawling grounds. 

A gentle breeze rustled through the trees that lined Beacon's main avenue. The wide stone road was lined with lampposts, and led to an enormous gray concrete sculpture. Illuminated by the morning sun, the memorial statue depicted two larger-than-life Hunters- a man and a woman- who stood in triumph on a boulder above the crouched form of a snarling Beowolf.

That same morning light seeped through one of the many windows that lined the student dormitories. It slipped through parted red-stitched curtains and the arch at the top of the window, easing its way in a golden stripe across the floor and casting the room in an orange haze.

The streams of sunlight inched across the room and grew more intense. As they did, one of the room's occupants, who'd been sleeping in her make-shift bunk bed, stirred.

Ruby Rose gave a grumbled protest as she felt the warmth of the early morning sun shining onto her face, despite the fact that she had drawn the curtains before heading to bed last night. She fumbled around for something to keep the light out of her eyes, only to discover that her sleeping mask, black with triangular red eyes like that of a Beowolves', had slid to the top of her head during the night. The song of a particularly cheerful bird outside the window pushed her the rest of the way awake.

Sleep-hazed silver eyes drifting open, Ruby sat up with an adorable sounding yawn, stretching and causing her red-tipped black hair to sway. Dressed in a black tank-top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and long white pants printed with pink roses, the fifteen-year-old had awoken earlier than was usual for her.

As she blinked slumber from her eyes, Ruby looked around. At the bed across from her, Ruby's older sibling and half-sister Yang Xiao Long snored in her sleep. But instead of sleeping sprawled out on her back like normal, Yang was curled up under the red blankets. With her back to Ruby, the most visible part of Yang was her long blonde hair, which reached far down her back.

Glancing down at the bed below her sister's, Ruby frowned. It was empty. Blake Belladonna, Yang's teammate, usually wasn't awake before everyone else. For a moment, she wondered why the dark-haired girl might have risen so early and where she might have gotten off to. It was probably too early for the Academy cafeteria to be serving breakfast. Ruby knew from personal experience, though, that fact had seldom stopped hungry students from getting a late night snack. Blake, on the other hand, was not the sort of person to go raiding the kitchen, early or not.

Ruby couldn't shake a feeling that there was something very obvious she was missing. Her mind, still clouded from sleep, took a few moments to realize what it was. Memories of what had happened two days ago stirred in her mind and everything came back in a rush like a bad dream. Ruby gave a quiet groan.

Goosebumps tickled Ruby's skin as the cool night air blew through the open window, filling the room of Team RWBY. She barely noticed it as she stood by her sister’s side, struggling to see how everything had gone downhill so fast. Everything had been going fine before they'd stumbled across the crime scene near the docks. They'd been having fun. Yang seemed just as lost as her. And Ruby absolutely knew that anything either of them might say would just make things worse.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" said Weiss, frustration obvious.

"That is the problem!" Blake snapped back.

Weiss shot to her feet, her pale blue eyes narrowed in a glare. “You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you?” Crossing her arms as a show of defiance, the white-haired teenager continued, “The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

"There's no such thing as pure evil!” Blake objected, standing up as well, clenched fists at her side. “Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

Gesturing towards herself, Weiss let out a disbelieving, "People like me?"

"You're discriminatory!" Blake fired back, accusing. Her almost amber eyes were narrowed in anger.

"I'm a victim!" Weiss shouted, stomping her foot.

A startled silence fell on the room. Ruby could see that brought Blake up short. But as Weiss and Blake stared each other down, most of Ruby's attention was on her partner.

The shorter girl leaned in close to Blake, some of her anger having left her as well. Speaking in a quiet and almost fragile tone, she asked, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?”

Turning away from the rest of her team, Weiss slowly moved over to the room's sole window. Leaning with her palms flat against the low wooden bookshelf in front of the open window, she stared out into the darkness. On her back and somewhat hidden by Weiss's off-centered ponytail, the snowflake symbol of the Schnee Dust Company stood out proudly.

"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War. As in actual bloodshed.” Weiss, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, revealed. “My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear. Board members, executed. An entire train car full of Dust stolen." Weiss's voice grew angrier as she continued. “And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." Those last word were marked by the white-haired girl banging a fist on the bookshelf.

Pity made Ruby leave Yang and move to her partner's side to gently put a comforting hand on Weiss's shoulder. “Weiss, I-" she began to say.

"No!" Weiss snapped, jerking away from Ruby's hand. Feeling hurt, Ruby watched her partner whirl around and stalked back towards Blake. The normally calm and composed heiress was now almost spitting out the words, her pale blue eyes alight with fury. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang?”

Any sympathy had fled the dark haired girl, her own eyes alight with a building rage. Ruby could see her fists shaking, her jaw clenched and teeth grinding together. Her bow was almost flat against her head.

“It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" The last word was almost spat in Blake's face.

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!", Blake snarled.

Rubbing the last bit of tiredness from her eyes, Ruby pushed the covers back and started climbing out of bed. She knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now. Not wanting to wake anyone else up yet, she was careful not to make her bed rock or swing too much on the ropes that held it up.

The polished wooden floor felt cool beneath her bare feet as she lowered herself to the ground. A glance behind her told her Weiss, wearing her blue-white sleeping gown, had stayed asleep. Her long, snowy hair pooled out over the top of the covers; her face was calm and relaxed. And the sounds of Yang's snores told Ruby she was still sleeping as well. 

Going over to the window and the bookshelf in front of it, Ruby could see the vast Forest of Forever Fall that surrounded Beacon on two sides. The sky was dark, but touched with dull purples and reds in the direction of the rising sun, which was just starting to peek over the horizon.

A glimmer caught her gaze. It was far in the distance, resting among the darkness in the red trees of the Forest of Forever Fall.

“Huh...?” She murmured to herself without thinking. She was sure that hadn't been there before.

In a sudden flash, like a bolt of lightening, the gleam flared brighter. It was a strange mix of colors now. A dark blue mixed in with a pinkish-purple color. The light was blinding in the morning darkness. Startled, Ruby flinched away from the widow with a high-pitched cry of surprise and a flurry of red rose petals.

She found herself with her back against the wall at the far side of the room, having used her Semblance to cover the distance, scattering petals across the floor in the process. It'd only been a split second, yet Ruby couldn't shake a feeling that there'd been something wrong about it. Light shouldn't behave like that. Shouldn't be oily and twisted.

To Ruby's left, Weiss' covers shuffled, and the heiress murmured something in her sleep, before going still again. A jaw-cracking yawn drew Ruby's attention up to where Yang, in her night-clothes of an orange tank-top and black shorts, was stretching. Her expression and amethyst colored eyes were half-awake. "Nggggh, wha – Ruby?"

At that moment, a tearing rumble, like a thunderclap of sound, slammed into her ears like a blow.  
Ruby jerked, clapping her hands over her ears. She could feel the floor tremble breath her feet as the shock-wave hit Beacon.

Weiss shot upright, her long white hair not done up in the usual ponytail, in disarray. Her eyes darted around wildly as if expecting some sort of attack. While Yang gave a surprised,“Whoa! The heck?"

A tangle of sounds- sharp cries of surprise and of people scrambling around throughout the dormitory- followed as the thunder faded away.

"What…" Weiss stopped and then tried again, "What in Remnant was that?”

 

-RWBY-  
Paula Ravenwood rolled from where she'd fallen on her side. Moving without thinking, she raised herself up with none of her usual catlike grace. A slim and shapely human woman, she was almost thirty, with dark red-gold hair that reached down to her shoulders. She wore her normal attire: black dress jeans, black boots, a blood-red shirt and equally red leather jacket.

Still dazed, she remained doubled over, gasping as she struggled to get her breath back. The fall had been punishing; hitting the ground had pushed out what little air that had remained in her lungs and made her see stars. Her hands, encased in tight-fitting opera gloves that reached up to her elbows beneath her jacket, rested on her knees. Paula forced herself to take in slow, measured breaths, letting the cool air fill her lungs and ease her racing heart.

Her dark gold eyes flicked to the fallen figure a few feet away, who'd almost gone face-down in the dirt along beside her. Even through her mental barriers, at this close range she could still feel his now-familiar presence. One of the hardest things about explaining what her telepathy could do was when she had to talk about auras, how they felt. It wasn't something she could really describe. But if she had to, the man known as Shaidar Gorthule was like when a cloud covered the sun, dropping everything into shadow.

Even as she thought this, he unsteadily rose into a sitting position, much like she had. A thick layer of oily black material, almost like a diver's wet suit, covered his lean form from head to toe. This close to him, she could see it wasn't one solid color, but a motley mosaic. Instead of merging into one another, they were separated into small, misshapen black segments on a lighter charcoal black background. Several short curved spines of the same bio-metal protruded from the back of his upper arms. Likewise, four similar- if larger-spikes projected from his upper back in vertical pairs: two to each side of his spine.

Through the disheveled strands of her hair, she saw the black armor covering the front of his head flow back. It revealed the familiar face of a man in his late twenties as his head turned, looking at her.

His lean face and short dark hair were ordinary enough to disappear into a crowd with little trouble. His eyes, looking alien on his otherwise human face, were the only things that stood out on him. They were dark green flecked with orange. The pupils were vertical slits like those of a cat, and where a human eye would be white, his sclera were black.

“That was close. You alright?” Shaidar questioned, speaking with an accent which, while mutated, was still British. Despite his being out of breath, his concern for her was clear to hear. Though Paula knew the motion of looking her over with his eyes was more out of habit than anything else. A holdover from when he'd been fully human. Back to when he hadn't been a cyborg either- though all that had been long before she and him first met. He could—and probably was— using his cybernetic sensors to examine her from head to toe.

Paula couldn't help but smile a little. Their relationship wasn't the most openly affectionate. But then, they weren't the most touchy-feely people around either. They still loved each other regardless- or at least insofar as two people like them were capable of that emotion. 

She shrugged, her red-gold hair shimmering with the movement. “I’ve been better. You?” she said, still panting a little. Her voice carried a trace of a drawl typical to the American south.

“Tolerable.” He coughed as he tried to catch his breath. “Nice thinking back there. I'd say you got us out in the nick of time.”

"Thanks. You know what they say— timing is everything." It was a weak quip. She'd all but thrown herself at him in a last desperate measure, and teleported them both through the portal he'd linked open to the Shadow's universe. All while fighting to hang on to him against the pull of decompression into the vastness of space as the armored hull of the United Nations Spaceship Indomitable had been torn open by weapons fire. She and Shaidar had been traveling aboard as observers.

Shaidar's lip twitched into a small smile. “They have indeed.”

Getting to her feet, Paula frowned at her outfit, which was covered in a thin grime of dirt. She brushed herself off with gloved hands, making a quick check of her coat pockets and belt. Luckily, she'd landed on her other side, so all three of the glass vials were intact. Likewise, the snub-nosed energy pistol was still in its holster on her belt.

That done, Paula raked her hand unevenly through her hair and got a good view of her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes widened.

“Oh, what the hell have we gotten into now?” she murmured.

Overhead, a distant canvas of stars hung in a dark blue sky. All around her, a vast, hill-crowded, crimson forest stretched into the distance. To her right, the sky was dark, but touched with dull purples and crimsons. Paula had no way of knowing if what she was witnessing was dawn or dusk. The cool air was quiet save for the sound of the creaking and groaning of trees. But this wasn't the true cause of her dread.

In the pale light sunlight, Paula could make out a ragged circular clearing around her and Shaidar. It had to be several hundred feet across; about the size of a parking lot. The ground beneath her feet was stripped clear of the normal underbrush and mulch of leaves, exposing hard soil. Toppled trees littered the ground, bare of bark and branches. Several had splintered against some boulders near the edge of the clearing. Paula only now became aware of the nose-wrinkling stench of ozone mixed in with odors of decaying leaves and earth.

All this radiated out from the central point- where she and Shaidar Gorthule now stood. As if there could be any doubt for the cause of the newly created clearing.

“Well. This is different.” Shaidar said, looking around. At five foot eight he was only a little taller than her. A ripple passed through the armor as it changed from its default black to a vivid red and orange autumn forest camouflage pattern. Paula could tell he was trying to be nonchalant, but she knew better. He was worried, just as she was. But they'd both seen and done too much in their lives to let that fear rule them.

"More like the start of a bad horror film." Something caught Paula's attention, and her golden eyes gazed up into the clear sky above. To her left and low above the treeline, a shattered half-moon glowed down, cold and white. Paula's eyes traced over its craters and pockmarks, noting the similarities to others she'd seen on other worlds on its unfamiliar face.

"And I don't think we're in Kansas anymore,” She added, causing Shaidar to glance up from the portal device strapped to his left arm.

“Oh dear,” he said, peering upwards at the broken alien moon. As the light changed, a deep orange gleam flickered to life within his eyes, making them resemble a pair of faintly glowing coals.

“You're saying the obvious darling.” Her voice was laced with a playful tone that was only slightly forced.

“Little bit,” he agreed, looking back to her, the motion making the orange glint in his eyes die. “Can you sense anything out there?”

Lowering her mental barriers for the moment, Paula reached out, scanning for other minds. "No one but some panicking animals in my range, so on the upside we haven't been seen. On on the downside we're definitely in the middle of nowhere. You?"

Unlike herself, Shaidar Gorthule wasn't a telepath. Nor was he a Preternatural—the name used by the few aware of her 'world' and the existence of people born with supernatural abilities. Of course, the Hadean Throne and the Aegis preferred it that way. Both Preternatural factions went out of their way to keep the rest of humanity ignorant of their existence.

In truth, it was anyone's guess if what her people had was truly magic or not. Between her travels alongside the Doctor and the years she'd spent working for the United States Department of Extraterrestrial and Supernatural Investigation, Paula wasn't sure anymore either.

Shaidar Gorthule was a Techno-mage. Like the rest of his order, his abilities were the result of a network of bio-mechanical cybernetic implants throughout his body. That technology had been created and supplied by an ancient race of aliens known to most as the Shadows. The Techno-mages served the Shadows in variety of ways, but mostly as elite agents, soldiers or some mix of both.

"All's clear on my end too. But I'm getting metal, probably train tracks, and a radio transmission from over there. I'd say it's an automated hazard alert.” He said, gesturing towards several of the fallen trees at the far edge of the clearing. Paula thought she could see a metallic glint underneath.

“As for long range,” Shaidar Gorthule continued, “I'm detecting a lot of radio traffic from the south west. Almost certainly from a major city, but it's out of scanner range. And we can’t stay here; our arrival has been noticed by the locals. Seems we created quite the light-show.”

"Damn. Well, if the locals don't like visitors, we'll be busy soon. It was your portal. Any clue where we are?"

"Yes and no,” the Techno-mage replied evenly. “From what radio traffic I can intercept, the city is named 'Vale' and the people of this world call it 'Remnant'. Unfortunately, I've never heard of either before and we're too far out for me to access any computers wirelessly. I don't suppose any of that sounds familiar to you?"

"No, I don't know the names. It...it feels a bit like the Underworld or one of the other pocket Realms might have felt, back home. Not quite the same but... Of that nature, if less so. Other, is the best word I've got, in a preternatural sense."

"Now that is intriguing, if not what I'd hoped for. At least on the bright side, this place beats the vacuum of space."

"There is that. Still, this could be complicated." She grinned, a sharp smile. "Let's hope they don't burn witches or things may get messy."

“For them, I'd think,” Shaidar Gorthule commented dryly. “We should get a move on. As much as I don't fancy strolling through a strange forest, I'd rather we weren't here when some spooked and trigger-happy natives start showing up.”

Here he glanced down for a moment, before continuing, “Still, all things considered, I think we'll remain on foot for a bit. At least until anyone who does manage to track us will think they lost the trail in the forest. It should be safe enough- I'm not detecting anything dangerous with my scanners.”

"Can't portal us out then?" Paula asked as they started walking between the fallen trunks, their feet leaving almost no impression on the hard earth. Gorthule's armor flowed back over his face while she spoke. Only when it settled into place did he reply.

"Afraid not. Whatever caused us to accidentally arrive here damaged the linking device.” He said, referring to the mechanism wrapped around his wrist like an oversized watch. It was now hidden once more beneath his armor. “In fact, I've shut everything down except diagnostics until I can give it a good look over. Preferably somewhere secure."

"Well. That is inconvenient. And being only half Cerberi, I can't teleport between dimensions." Not to mention she couldn't teleport them to this 'Vale' city. She'd never been there before, didn't have a line of sight and was certain she didn't know anyone living in it either.

The Cerberi were a breed of magic users who served the Hadean Throne. They were an upper class, but some worked as hired guns or mercenaries to upper-level leaders of the Underworld. Save for their alliance to the Throne, they were the mirror-image of the Guardians that served the Aegis.

"Assuming this place is like one of your people's pocket dimensions, is it possibl-” His head snapped around, peering out into the forest as his voice dropped off into a sharp whisper. “Unknown contacts inbound!"

His warning came only a fraction of a second before a chorus of guttural and undeniably enraged howls filled the air, along with a cloying and horrific scent.

Paula stopped, turned, her right hand coming to rest on the grip of the energy pistol hanging on her hip. She reached out, scanning with her mind again instead of her eyes. For an instant, she felt, sensed nothing. Then there was a hint of minds that weren't quite minds at all. They were empty, hollow shells. Twisted. Animalistic. Filled with hate. And a yawning, ravenous hunger. Her heart went cold in her chest.

Quick as lightning, a dozen nightmares of black fur erupted from the underbrush at the clearing's edge. The creatures were in the broad outline of a wolf, if a wolf had aspirations to become human. Each was roughly bipedal, with bodies that were slumped forward as they ran on all fours. Even in the faint sunlight, fangs glistened in muzzles. Burning, hate-filled red eyes glared out of faces masked by bone.

In that instant, Paula lashed out with her telepathy. But she'd never encountered anything quite like this before. Her attack wasn't coordinated enough to do more than disorientate them. Several creatures stumbled, a few even colliding with each other or fallen tree trunks.

Even while they stumbled, Paula was running through her few spell-casting options. She almost drew her pistol, but stopped before she'd barely begun. She had a better idea. These things could well be magical—she'd try an attack on those lines first.

As her hand darted to her coat pocket, the creatures shook themselves, staggering but ready to continue their attack. They never got the chance. Two dozen bat-winged imps flickered into existence above the creatures. Each was the size of a large dog. Dark copper armor covered much of their gray bodies. Long steel teeth gleamed in crooked mouths. Paula recognized the imps for what they were of course; hard light constructs. Solid holograms of Shaidar's creation. Holo-demons.

Like a swarm of furious hornets, the imps dove on the wolf-creatures. Bear-trap jaws and arms ending in claws or short blades stabbed and tore chunks out of black-furred flesh. Again, the creatures fell into disarray. They shrieked and swatted at the holographic imps, who darted through the air or clung to their enemies as they hooted, hacked and bit.

It was then her searching fingers closed around the distinctly shaped glass vial holding an explosive potion. Paula pulled it out of her pocket, when she felt Shaidar wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close to him. She felt his breath on her cheek. “Hold on,” he said in a short, clipped tone.

She felt something shift under her feet. Her gaze flickered down involuntary. She could almost see a rippling distortion under her feet in the shape of a flat, translucent square. The platform looked to be a little over a yard wide and across but only about an inch thick.

Like all Techno-mage platforms, this one was an extension of the 'mage who generated it. So, Shaidar had an instinctive ability to keep his balance through various maneuvers. But, any passenger on the platform—such as herself—had to either hold tight to the Techno-mage or hope for a gentle ride.

As they shot upwards, a guttural snarl ripped her attention back to the fight. The holographic imps were fighting well, but even as Paula looked, one fell prey to a beast's attack. Its body fizzed into nothingness as it 'died'. But that was not what drew her gaze. 

One creature was bounding forward, a pair of imps still stubbornly clinging to it. This one was larger than the rest, with scattered white spines protruding from its back and arms. Its eyes, shining with menace, were fixed on her- on them.

The platform jerked sideways as the creature leaped for them with claws splayed. Paula drew her arm back, almost whacking Shaidar in the face with her elbow, and threw the explosive mixture right at the creature. More by pure luck than by design, the glass vial hit its face and shattered. There was a cough of an explosion. A burst of pallid green fire. The creature tumbled back down into the dirt with a ragged yelp.

About a dozen feet above the treetops, their ascent stopped. As the platform spun in place, Paula caught a final glimpse of the clearing before it was behind them. Their purpose now served, the holographic imps had dissipated. The other wolf-creatures were now glaring up at them, snarling and scrabbling around under them like dogs who'd gotten a cat up a tree. The larger creature she'd hit was getting to its feet. It was still smoldering, with large swaths of fur and skin burned away.

Then the creatures were gone, left behind as she and Gorthule flew out over the forest. The whole fight had only lasted a handful of seconds.

"Sorry for that," Paula said, almost absently to Gorthule. His armor had returned to it's default black color. “So a little like Hadean demons—well, obviously not but in theory, could be similar. That's a bit of useful information."

“It's fine," he replied, "But I'd rather you hadn't done that."

"I just wish I'd killed the thing." Paula's eyes were still narrowed in thought, the wind ruffling her red hair. She felt more shaken than afraid by what she'd felt from those creatures. There was a pause as the rest of Shaidar's comment registered then. "I thought I only almost hit you?"

"It's not that. I'd planned to get us out and leave behind as little evidence as possible for the locals to puzzle over. If they learn about us, I want it to be on our terms. So the more we can mislead them about our capabilities the better. They can't fight what they don't know. Besides, we would have gained nothing by staying there and battling it out with those creatures.”

As Shaidar elaborated, the platform beneath them grew by several feet and darkened to the color of smoke-blackened glass. She'd seen for herself in the past how platforms could be created in various shapes, such as a chair, a chariot and so on. All which would be more comfortable and easier to sit on. But, as he'd explained to her, simple designs were easier to create, maintain and also change to a degree while in use.

"Ah." She wasn't too inclined to apologize, largely since she was a little skeptical that the platform had been moving away fast enough, but it was a potential problem. But it explained why Shaidar hadn't just killed them. After all, bodies and battlefields could be examined. "Better a potion than a phaser then."

Now that she thought about it, Paula realized his decision to use holo-demons had been more than just a way to keep those creatures busy while they escaped. It was another attempted deception on his part. Anyone who investigated would probably think the creatures had been fighting some other animal. Yes, the fight would have still looked odd given the location. But, it might have been enough to allay suspicions. At least for a little while.

"True. Still, it's not your fault. I should have made my intentions clearer before those things showed up. Speaking of which, how well could you detect those creatures back there?” The platform slowed a little as Shaidar let go of Paula's waist and sat down.

“Not very well,” Paula said, sitting down as well. “I've never sensed anything quite like them before. Their minds were almost empty. It's like they were some sort of projection. Which explains a little why I didn't sense them earlier.” A thought struck her, “Come to think of it, I don't think I saw any of those creatures bleed. Which isn't normal, even for demons.”

She'd thrown in that last sentence for Shaidar Gorthule's benefit. When Gorthule's associates had shown up in her universe, her people's secretiveness had been directed at them as well. Of course, few people were aware of the Shadow's true nature as being from another universe. They'd gone to great lengths to hide where they'd come from and instead claimed to be from a distant galaxy.

“Neither did I. And I couldn't get a reading on them with most of my sensors. My motion scanners only picked them up as intermittent contacts and that was at a reduced range. They barely showed up on infrared as well.” There was a definite trace of unease in his voice at the end.

Paula fiddled with a knife thoughtfully for a moment, its blade a dulled gray that did not reflect the light, before returning it to it's forearm sheath. "So, we know we're in a preternatural world with the weirdest damn moon I've ever seen. We've got a couple names. And we can't get out, for now."

"I'm afraid that's the long and short of it. But I expect we'll know more soon enough.” He said, quietly confident.

 

Chapter Note:  
For clarification, Shaidar Gorthule is pronounced 'Shade-are Gore-thule'.

Not sure how well it came across, but I'm really trying to push the idea of the Grimm being weird and unusual by anyone's standards. Hence why Shaidar and Paula had such a hard time detecting them. 

Likewise, I've tried to get across that while both the original characters are intelligent, experienced and generally competent, they're not perfect by a long shot and make mistakes. After all, they've accidentally ended up in an unknown universe. That's the very definition of fucking up with style.

On the subject of the Techno-mages, I'm heavily using what we saw in Babylon 5, Crusade and the Techno-mage trilogy over the Babylon 5 RPG book for the Techno-mages. Most because the RPG give the Techno-mages abilities and skills that are never shown or mentioned in any of the aforementioned TV shows and novels. Plus, the RPG book reads like someone did a lazy 'find and replace' search in a RPG rulebook for wizards' and swapped out some words and terms for more 'sci-fi' ones.

As for Paula's people, it's a bit like the World of Darkness tabletop games or the Dresden Files books. For those who aren't familiar with those, think (seemingly) supernatural shenanigans behind the veneer of normal life. Though in the case of Paula’s people, they aren't as widespread or powerful as the supernatural forces in those series.

Reviews and constructive criticism is always welcomed. I'm very curious to hear people’s thoughts about the story so far and how well I portrayed the canon cast and my original characters.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The light was stronger now; the morning sun was a red-orange ball just over the hills.

Stepping off from atop a fallen tree trunk, a woman in red and black surveyed the desolate clearing illuminated by the morning sun. An elaborate helmet obscured most of her head, except for her long black hair and the raven feathers twisted into it. The helmet itself was white with red accents and shaped like the fearsome head of a Grimm bird of prey. One gloved hand never strayed far from the sword sheathed in the heavy scabbard that hung at her left hip.

Raven Branwen strode through the maze of fallen trees, thigh-length black boots moving in measured steps. Like the rest of of her clothing, her boots were well made, but had seen much wear.

Hidden behind the helmet, her crimson eyes were focused on the ground torn by the paws and claws of beowolves. She slowly circled around, inspecting them, careful not to touch it or step on the softer ground of the disturbed dirt.

Approaching one such patch of soil, she paused, seeing what looked like the remains of a pair of tracks mixed in with those of the Grimm. They were faint against the baked ground, little more than a collection of scuff marks. Anyone else would have missed it. But few people in Remnant had her skill when it came to tracking.

Straightening herself, she resumed her search for clues to what had happened here. She continued along, stooping now and again to take a closer look at some mark or print on the ground. Until she'd circled back around to where she'd begun. It was only then that she stopped, her eyes distant as she contemplated the what she'd found.

Raven thought she had a good picture of what had taken place, even if it was half-finished and left her with questions. Such as when had the people whose tracks she'd discovered arrive here? Had they been the ones to cause the blast or only the first come here to investigate it? Their tracks were too spoiled or confused to be sure.

As for how they'd escaped the Grimm, she couldn't be sure. Although she suspected they'd jumped aboard a hovering Bullhead. Given the signs of a fight, she couldn't rule out the use of a summoning Semblance. Like the one possessed by the conniving and lavish Schnees.

More important to Raven was the cause of all this. All the signs she'd found pointed to magic. Powerful magic at that to create a clearing several hundred feet across. Had it been caused by Dust, she would have found some trace of it or fragments of bomb casing. And there was no way someone with so powerful a Semblance could have escaped her attention- or that of Ozpin and Salem. The power that had done this was equal to that of a Maiden.

To Raven, this almost had to be the doing of one of Salem or Ozpin's pawns. A third party was possible and not to be discounted, but there was only a small chance of that. Ozpin and Salem jealously guarded what power and knowledge they had.

If it was so easy to acquire such power outside serving in their cabals, Raven would have discovered it long ago. As for stealing it from either of them, that would be a foolish errand unless done carefully. Her misguided brother might have failed to protect the Fall Maiden, but Raven knew that to be a fluke.

That the Fall Maiden had been overcome so easily and had needed a guard at all revealed how weak Amber had been. Inexperience alone could not excuse what had happened. She'd been little more than a figurehead propped up by what Raven saw as a frightened old man who dared only to tell his servants riddles and half-truths. She only regretted it had taken her too long to realize the extent of this.

The idea that Ozpin might have been the cause of this desolation almost drew a snort of laughter from Raven. For all his claimed knowledge and wisdom, he was far too careful and cautious to allow such actions. It was but one reason among many that Beacon would fall and he would fail. Followed soon by the Kingdoms and the fools who cowered within them. It was the natural order of things. People who were weak would die and the strong would live.

A faint sound reached her ears and she glanced up by reflex. Already knowing she would see the distant metallic shine in the sky of several Bullheads approaching from the direction of the city of Vale.

Reaching to her hip, Raven drew her curved crimson sword. The blade doubled to over twice it's length in an instant. There was a high pitched thrumming and the sword flashed downward through empty space. The blade left a red rent in its wake. It was as if the air itself was wounded.

Determination and focus enveloped her, hardened her mind to ice and her will to steel. If this was some new twist in Salem's scheme, she would uncover it and plan accordingly.

And should it turn out to be the doing of someone else...she'd ether recruit them by any means necessary or deal with them. One way or another, it would be before Ozpin or Salem could so the same.

What sort of leader would she be if she wouldn't do whatever was necessary to ensure the survival of her people?

-RWBY-

The cavernous space of Beacon Academy's central cafeteria was alive with activity. A steady buzz of voices filled the air while students filled their trays with a wide range of breakfast food, before sitting down with friends and teammates.

Teams RWBY and JNPR's table was no different from their classmate's. As was the case whenever the eight of them had the chance, they'd grab the exactly same spot. It was nice and sunny, with a great view of the courtyard through one of the large windows that lined the cafeteria wall. As with the other students, none of teens had their weapons, which were safely put away in their lockers.

All this was normal for the crowded room in the morning. Even for the two-week break between semesters at Beacon. The topic of conversation wasn't.

"Come on guys," Nora Valkyrie interjected as she drizzled enough syrup on her flapjacks to induce a diabetic coma. She glanced up at the others, her blue-green eyes narrowing, "It was obviously the climax of an epic battle between some lone, grizzled Huntsmen and the giant, one-eyed Ursa that took the life of the woman he loved! Fueled by love, vengeance, and a convenient vein of burn Dust beneath their feet he destroyed the monstrosity!"

The ginger-haired teen then went from manic to melancholic, as if someone had flipped a switch, "But tragically the wounds he took in the battle were too great even for Aura to heal he perishes. In his last moments he thinks of his love hoping that at last, they'll be reunited in the afterlife."

Across from Nora, sitting with the sunlight warming her back and her waist-length wild mane of blonde hair, Yang Xiao Long grinned. Despite the situation over the last two days, the other girl's energy was infectious. Still, it wasn't enough to push her partner and friend's disappearance from Yang's mind.

Like the rest of her friends, Yang wasn't wearing Beacon's school uniform. In the athletic, buxom teenager's case, her customary clothing was black shorts, heavy leather boots and a tan leather jacket. The last one was worn over a low-cut yellow top with her stylized insignia of a heart engulfed in flames.

From where he sat next to her, Nora's partner and long time friend Lie Ren, lowered a coffee cup from his lips. The boy, his black hair disrupted by a pink streak, wore a long-sleeved green Mistrali-style tailcoat and white pants.

"Nora," Ren said slowly, "that was the plot of the movie we saw last weekend."

From further down on Nora's side of the table, Pyrrha Nikos also spoke up. Her tone and the look in her dark green eyes were one of polite skepticism. "And putting that aside, I'm not quite sure Hunters being the cause is very likely."

Unlike Nora's shoulder-length hair, Pyrrha's deep red ponytail reached to the taller girl's waist. Both women of Team JNPR wore a mix of armor and clothing. With Nora, it was silver and worn over a white top and pink skirt. In her fellow teammate's case, the armor was more extensive and a deep bronze color.

"Pyrrha's right. Unless they were carrying a whole shipping container worth of Dust, it's not possible," chimed in Weiss from besides Yang. She looked as prim and proper as always in her white dress and jacket.

Nora let out a disappointed, "Aww."

Yang swallowed a mouthful of food; it tasted like ashes going down. Giving a smile, she said, "I dunno Ice Queen, you might be onto something. Maybe it was a natural pocket of Dust that got set off somehow."

She hoped none of them noticed how fake and forced her smile felt. She'd always worn her heart on her sleeve. Sure, she'd kept her fair share of personal secrets. Her dad didn't know about some of Yang's dates back at Signal. Or why she'd come home late the night she'd visited the Bear Necessities and ended up trashing Junior's club. Even when they'd started at Beacon, Yang had managed to restrain herself from doing anything about Ruby wanting Weiss to respect her as leader of RWBY. But none of those had been as big as what had happened to Blake.

So it was difficult for her to balance out how she felt while trying to keep up a facade about something so important as Blake's disappearance.

Not for the first time, Yang's amethyst gaze flashed down past Weiss towards her little sister. Ruby was clad in a black blouse, a waist clincher with red lacing and a combat skirt with red trimmings. A heavy red cloak adorned her shoulders, pinned to her blouse by a pair of silver crosses.

To Yang's growing concern, Ruby was still picking at her breakfast of pancakes with strawberries. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to the conversation going on around her either.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Weiss's face. "Maybe. But I can't imagine what could have ignited it. Raw Dust isn't anywhere near as volatile as processed crystals or powder. And I'm almost certain that any Dust deposits near the surface that close to Vale would have been found already."

From beside Pyrrha, a tall blond teenage boy leaned forward, boyish excitement in his blue eyes. Like his partner Pyrrha, Jaune Arc wore armor. In his case, a white chestplate and arm upper protection over a black hoodie."Maybe it was a meteor instead?" he suggested.

Weiss scoffed. "Frankly, that's about as likely as aliens being responsible. So no."

Pyrrha winced at her words, while Jaune looked disappointed at how fast Weiss had shot his idea down. He hesitated for a moment, then looked at Yang's sister and asked, "Well, what do you think Ruby? I mean you did say you saw what happened."

Ruby's gaze jerked up from her food. "Huh? Uum. Sorry Jaune, I don't think it was a meteor," she said, in a voice that lacked most of her usual peppy tone.

Yang's heart twisted in her chest and she bit the side of her cheek as her older sibling instincts kicked in. It was rare for her half-sister to bottle her feelings in about something that bothered her.

She'd planned to speak to Ruby again before breakfast. But between everything that had happened, Yang hadn't had the time to. What made it all worse, was that as much as she ached to comfort and support her sister, there was little she could do. Not here, in front of Team JNPR and in a crowded cafeteria full of students.

"Are you alright Ruby? Is there something going on?" There was a definite undertone of concern in Jaune's voice now. He was watching Ruby now, his eyebrows knitting together as he frowned in concern. The rest of JNPR looked just as curious and worried.

Yang recognized the look on Ruby's silver eyes. She was going to start babbling. Like she almost always did when she was uncomfortable or had no idea what to do.

"Oh she's fine. She just didn't sleep well last night." Yang jumped in. She tried not to grimace. That had been about as subtle as an Ursa.

The reaction from JNPR was mixed. Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged glances. Nora looked more puzzled than anything else. Ren gave Yang a searching look; she answered with her best expression of polite confusion.

For a moment, she worried that they would try to dig deeper. But JNPR seemed to accept her lie. Or at least they were willing to drop the topic and move on to talking about what their plans for the day were.

Besides her, Yang was aware of Weiss relaxing. She might have been better at hiding it than Yang or Ruby, but the white-haired girl had a nervous edge to her in recent days.

A question from Pyrrha and Weiss's response was lost as Ruby gave Yang a relieved smile. It was a small smile, but it was there. For the blonde, it was no wonder Ruby had been so unconformable lying to Jaune. After all, the fellow team leaders were best friends. She had probably wanted badly to tell him what was going on.

It didn't take much effort from Yang to know why her little sister felt not just worried, but uncertain about how they'd find Blake. Along with her decisions over the past two days. Both of them knew that finding Yang's partner was going to be difficult. But Ruby was too much of an optimist to believe that they wouldn't be able to. Though Yang suspected that, like herself, her little sister worried if Blake

would to come back with them.

When Blake had ran away, Ruby wanted to go after her right away. But Yang and Weiss had talked her out of it.

Just let her get it out of her system. She needs time to calm down, Yang had told Ruby.

And if she comes back on her own, Weiss added, we don't have to worry about attracting attention and getting all of us in trouble.

That decision was one Yang had started to doubt more and more as the days had passed. She knew that sometimes people walked away because they want to be alone. But sometimes they walked away because they want to see if people cared enough to follow them. That and Yang couldn't help but worry that something might have happened to Blake.

But Yang had managed to tuck her feelings away to provide encouragement and support. To let Ruby know her big sister had her back. To help her hold what remained of Team RWBY together. To try and keep JNPR or anyone else from getting suspicious.

"...going to see that new Spruce Lee film, 'Enter the Nevermore'." Pyrrha said, pulling Yang out of her thoughts and back to the breakfast table. The conversation, it seemed, had carried on without her.

"Even if it won't be the same movie theater we normally go to." Jaune sounded a little sad about that.

"Why, what happened?" asked Weiss.

"They still aren't happy with us after Nora got too carried away playing 'Wack-a-Grimm' in the lobby arcade with Magnhild last month." Ren explained.

Nora had the decency to look a little embarrassed at this. Weiss stared at her, dumbfounded. Yang, on the other hand, was less surprised by Nora's antics. Even if she thought that was going a bit far, even for what passed as normal for Nora.

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that." Chirped Ruby. To Yang's relief, she was making a token effort to join in the conversation.

"Maybe all of us could meet up and have lunch?" Jaune suggested. Yang knew he was just being well-meaning and hoping to make Ruby feel better.

"Well, we were planning to go to Patch for the day and visiting my dad." She forced a somewhat apologetic expression on her face as she again saved her sister from having to lie to her best friend. In truth, she knew Ruby wanted to spend today searching Vale for Blake. She didn't know if Ruby had told Weiss about her plan.

Weiss shot Yang a glare out of the corner of her eye, but gave no other outward reaction.

"Oh I see."

"So is Blake coming with you guys?" Asked Nora.

Yang tried to stop herself from tensing up. She gave a small shrug that she hoped looked casual. "Maybe."

In spite of this being the two-week break between semesters, they'd known that sooner or later, someone would notice Blake's absence. So the remainder of Team RWBY had told people she was off visiting relatives outside the Kingdoms. That she'd lived outside the Kingdoms was a fact Blake herself had mentioned the few times she'd talked about her past.

"You don't know?" Pyrrha asked, puzzled.

"Well, Blake said she isn't sure if she'll be back in Vale today or not. And Scroll reception's not good where she is." Weiss explained.

While the conversation carried on, Yang couldn't help but think how JNPR would drop everything if they knew the truth about why Blake wasn't around.

-RWBY-

It was sometime later that the trio of girls headed back to their dorms. An awkward silence had descended on them. The loudest sound being Weiss's heels clicking against the wooden hallway floor as she followed not far behind her partner. Despite trying to walk with the usual spring in her step, Yang could tell Ruby was uneasy.

As for herself, towards the end, Yang had tried not to tune out the conversation as her worry for her team and Blake had grown into impatience. The only bright spot was they'd kept JNPR from getting too suspicious.

As they reached their room, Yang closed the door behind her and locked it. She almost gave a sigh of relief. They were safe from being overheard now.

"This sucks! We should just tell them, except it might get Blake in trouble, and we don't even know where she is, or if she's coming back." Ruby said, her words coming out in a rush. Her eyes were anxious and bright, with the start of what might be tears.

Yang noticed at once. Moving to sit right beside her on the bed, she wrapped an arm gently around her sister's shoulders in a side hug. She hoped it would provide some comfort to her, like it would when they were kids.

Being accepted into Beacon two years early and given command of her own Huntress team meant that people tended to forget that Ruby Rose was a fifteen-year-old girl. But Yang would never forget. And to her Ruby would always be her baby sister.

"I know." Those were the only words that Yang could come up with, her mind unable to find anything better to say. Off to the side, she could see Weiss watching them with an unreadable expression.

For a long moment Ruby curled into Yang's embrace. The giving a small sniff, she straighten up and turned to face her partner. "Weiss, I know she's been gone all weekend, but we need to find her."

"I'm sure she's fine. Blake's a big girl; she can take care of herself," Weiss said. Yet Yang thought she could hear a little concern in her voice.

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, she's missing and we need to try and find her." Yang retorted, standing up. Her hands wanted to ball up into tight fists. What remained of her temper was fraying fast.

"Weiss, she's one of our teammates." Ruby interrupted before Yang and Weiss's argument could continue further. Yang saw her sister was looking at heiress, her silver eyes earnest.

Weiss arched her scarred eyebrow at Yang's sister. For a moment, if looked like she was going to try and argue. Then, she sighed. Her shoulders slumped in resignation. "Alight. I'll help you look for her."

-RWBY-

Surrounded by a crowd of people, Penny Polendina waited patiently for the pedestrian crossing light to change.

Illuminated by the rising sun, the street around her was busy with cars and fellow pedestrians like herself. Although today she was was cataloging a major increase in activity compared to the correlating time on the previous days she'd spent in the city.

Given the grumbling she'd overheard, this activity- and delays, which seemed to be the cause of the grumblings- was 'typical Monday morning [expletive].' Few, if any of them, seemed to be putting much thought into the unidentified explosion in Forever Fall she'd seen earlier.

As she pondered this, the pedestrian crossing light changed color. Penny hurried across the street along with the crowd of people. None of whom gave more then a passing glance at what, to them, seem to be ashort, ginger-haired girl with bright green eyes and a freckled face.

It was several minutes after she'd left that main street behind that a car that pulled up along side of her. The vehicle appeared to be an expensive Atlas-designed civilian model, but Penny recognized it and knew that beneath its plain gray exterior it had been heavily modified. Including an augmented armored frame work and body.

Likewise, she recognized the man who peered back at her through the open driver's window, an expression of obvious relief on his face. "Penny, please get in."

Climbed inside and closing the door, her hearing picked up the sound of a window rolling shut. Like all those in the car, the drivers window was bullet resistant and tinted so those outside would have a harder time looking in.

As the car began moving down the road in the direction Penny had been walking towards, the driver spoke up again. "You should know better than to go running around in a strange city." He admonished her.

Penny bowed her head, subdued, "I know, sir. I came back as fast as I could when I heard the explosion."

The man turned his head so he could look at her. His next words where said in a tone that meant to sound reassuring. "That's very commendable of you Penny. And I'm sure your father will be pleased to hear that."

The rest of the ride back to the house where Penny was supposed to be staying at was spent in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> So, about that butterfly effect...
> 
> Raven is one of those characters in that she's simultaneously very easy to write and very difficult to write. I see her as a twisted mix of Yang and Blake's personalities, in that she's got their faults dialed up to eleven and their positives but warped.
> 
> And speaking of Yang, I tried my best to show her stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Given how much she wears her heart and passions on her sleeve, I imagine that it's difficult for her to put up a facade. But not impossible for her to do either.
> 
> Regarding Penny's section, I was intentionally going for a slightly clunky sentence and word formatting. I figured this would fit Penny's robotic nature. Particularly since this is Volume 1 Penny, whose not as experienced when it come to dealing with people and the outside world.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Far across the ocean from the Kingdom of Vale and high over the eastern edge of the continent of Anima, the Mistrali passenger airship Allure of the Skies continued its days-long journey towards Beacon Academy. It traveled through calm, if cloud-strewn, skies. The airship had, after all, been built for comfort instead of speed.

Allure of the Skies did not resemble the airships used by Atlas and Vale. Bare brass and steel supports strengthened key portions of it's hull. Large canvas sails, ribbed with reinforcements like a fish fins, had unfolded from the bottom and sides of the vessel. The majority of the ship seemed to be made out of wood- while in truth, the material was layered over the Allure's huge metal hull and was more decorative than much else.

It's interior carried much the same design ethos. Dark wood, polished and carved with decorations inlaid with brass could be found throughout most of the ship, including well-lit public areas and the ornate passenger cabins. Most of which were filled with the chatter of the various students from Haven Academy, who were traveling to Vale for the upcoming Vytal Festival.

Inside of one such passenger cabin, a trio of meals sat cooling on an ornate table. Food was the last thing on the mind of Cinder Fall. Behind her stood her two servants, as she didn't think of them as friends or associates; Mercury Black and Emerald Suturai.

Right now all Cinder's attention was focused on the holographic projection showing a Vale News Network report. A white haired woman with yellow eyes- according to the label on the bottom half of the projection, her name was Lisa Lavender- was speaking.

[...Details are very sketchy at this point about the cause of the blast. We have still unconfirmed reports that a Schnee Dust Company rail-line in the area many have been damaged. The SDC has refused to make any comments at this time on the matter...]

Cinder's fingers- her nails painted and manicured- wanted to curl into claws. To bunch up the gray and checkered skirt she wore. It, along with her black jacket that made up the uniform of Haven Academy, where more conservative than what she preferred.

She and her servants had spent the last three months there, pretending to be students under the watchful eye of it's headmaster, Professor Lionheart. The same man who'd provided Cinder with the papers that had allowed them to pose as students in the first place. The man who had secretly betrayed Ozpin and his clique for Salem's cause.

During those long months, Cinder had comforted herself with the thought that all the play-acting would be worth it. Beacon would fall and when it did she would learn where Ozpin was hiding what remained of the Maiden of Fall. It's full power would rightfully be hers.

There had been times where she could almost taste victory and couldn't wait to finally clutch it with her own two hands.

Now her careful mask of calm was being eroded away. Her mood threatened to sour. Beneath her confidence, old fears were stirring. They slithered through her veins, cold and venomous. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy. But this was unexpected. Her mind startled tumbling through possibilities.

Was Roman behind this? Could the White Fang have somehow slipped from her control in the months she'd been gone?

I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful.

Cinder wrestled her fear down, squashing it with effort before it could poison her further. Neither of those were possible. The White Fang had everything to gain by following her commands. And like Roman, they knew what would happen to them if they disobeyed. Besides, for all his moments of flamboyance, Roman was more interested in making money over headlines. It was part of why she'd obtained his services in the first place.

Cinder felt the return of her old confidence. This event could be made to work in her advantage. The spreading of fear and paranoia had always been part of her plan.

On the other hand, this could provoke a reaction beyond what she wanted at this time. So there was a potential, no matter how small, of this backfiring.

"So...the plan is still going ahead, right?" ventured Mercury, breaking the stillness of the cabin.

Clicking off the projector with delicate press of a button on the remote, Cinder rose, turning to face him. She took in the scene before her with a glance of her pale golden eyes.

Mercury was leaning against a wall, gray hair disheveled as normal, regarding her warily. Sitting in a nearby chair, Emerald was also watching Cinder.

The fourth member of their faux-team of students, Neopolitan, had left several days prior. She'd gone ahead to help Roman pull off the planned Dockyard heist. The earlier Dust robberies had been done with cars and other ground vehicles. As without Neopolitan's illusions to hide behind, Bullheads would be spotted and heard long before they could escape with the stolen Dust.

"Yes," Cinder replied, using her usual assured lilting tone. She needed to be calm, cool, and collected. The model manipulator and planner she always tried to be. "We'll need to make some changes, but the plan will still proceed."

I will be strong. I will be feared. I will be powerful. I will never be weak again.

The thought was almost enough to make her ignore the remaining clammy tendrils of fear around her heart.

-RWBY-

Shaidar Gorthule's mind was busier than normal, evaluating the less than ideal situation he and Paula found themselves in. He paid little mind to the scenery, even though it was certainly eye-catching. The two of them were hiding in the middle of a copse of trees which stood atop a hill. The city of Vale stood a handful of kilometers to the southwest.

A light breeze whispered through the holographic and sensor shroud he'd created over their temporary hiding place. Even to the perspective of an outsider using the most advanced equipment on Remnant, the hill would appear uninhabited save for a few forest animals.

If one could peer past the holographic shroud, they would have seen Shaidar Gorthule leaning against a tree. He felt the Autumn-coloured bio-metal armour that covered him from head to foot as a faint, almost weightless warmth. The four large spikes that protruded from his armoured back had folded against it. Despite how it covered his face, his vision was unimpeded by the material.

His face was looking forward, so he seemed to be gazing towards the distant city. However, he wasn't looking at Vale. In fact, Shaidar was studying information and sensor readouts that scrolled across his vision on a personal heads-up display.

He'd been scrutinizing and poring over the various topics accessed from Vale's Cross Continental Transmit System for a while now.

[...These institutions accept graduates of primary combat schools, who have shown great promise and tenacity, to not only battle the world's deadliest creatures, but also protect their fellow man...]

They were outsiders in a strange world, with no allies or friends to turn to. Both he and Paula had agreed during their travel toward Vale that revealing themselves as outsiders should be avoided if possible. There was taking justifiable risks and then there was outright stupidity. Throwing themselves at the mercies of the locals fell under the latter.

[Aura is a manifestation of the soul, a life force that runs through every living creature on Remnant, whether they are a meager shopkeeper or a renowned knight. However, what sets true warriors apart from all others is their ability to amplify and control their Aura...]

As he'd continued to learn more about this world, Shaidar had little difficulty in keeping an eye on his surroundings. Both with scanners and his eyes and ears.

His mind, like those of many who served the ancient alien race known as the Shadows, had been augmented by neural implants. Of these, it was the command and control modules allowed him to receive, process and act on information faster than an entirely organic individual could.

Training, in addition to experience gained from his years of service had allowed his not-quite human mind to become adept to using them. He'd been a commander, both on and off the battlefield, a field agent and, perhaps most important of all, as an emissary of the Shadows.

[Thank you, Cyril. Details are very sketchy at this point about the cause of the blast. We have still unconfirmed reports that a Schnee Dust Company rail-line in the area many have been damaged. The SDC has refused to make any comments at this time...]

Despite all his augmentations and power, Shaidar Gorthule knew that he wasn't invulnerable. Even a normal human was capable of defeating him under the right circumstances.

Satisfied at last, Shaidar severed his connection with the CCT, having already inserted a program into the network. The program was but one of several he had stored. This one had been instructed to insert the false identities and other necessitates for blending in with a modern society. As for money, the program was to infiltrate and set up a modest bank account full of Lien. All of which would of course be made to look as if they'd existed for much longer than they really had.

For a moment, Shaidar Gorthule's inhuman green eyes focused on the city of Vale again. He didn't need to reach out once more with his sensors or magnify his vision to see how the vast walls loomed like a white cliff face. The Shadow-human hybrid was well aware of how its defenses bristled with weapons: Vale was more stronghold than city. One that was double, if not triple, the size of the largest cities on Earth.

Compared to the things people like Paula and himself had seen, it was positively unimpressive.

Without pause, his gaze passed over a tall collection of buildings that loomed several miles away to his left; south of his position. Perched atop a plateau on the border between the Forest of Forever fall and the Emerald Forest. It looked like a castle pulled right out of a child's fairy tale. At the centre a high tower jutted upwards like a spire of bone. An iridescent green light gleamed at it's top like a watchful eye. Beacon Academy.

As he straightened up and moved around the tree he'd been leaning against, the four spikes of bio-metal on his back stood back up. As they were no longer in danger of getting caught or stuck into the tree.

Shaidar strode towards where Paula was sitting on a half-rotten fallen tree trunk several feet away. The slim redhead, the woman Shaidar Gorthule loved, was facing away from him. Paula was scanning the horizon for anything potential threat. Like Shaidar had done with his sensors, she was telepathically listening with her mind for the presence of anything that escaped the notice of her other senses.

The morning sun was a red-orange ball hovering just over the hills and Shaidar's eyes could see a soft golden glow around Paula. It was little more than a glimmer, but he'd been around her for so long that he'd almost stopped noticing it.

The source of that faint golden glow came from Paula's years as a companion of an alien time traveller known as the Doctor. The glow itself was a side-effect of journeying through time.

Outside of the Shadows themselves, he was one of the few people capable of seeing it. A normal human definitely couldn't. Other Techno-mages could detect the Time Vortex on her, but they wouldn't see it without their sensors. It was an intentional result of his transformation, thanks to genetic manipulation, into a Shadow-human hybrid. Though not the sole reason for that metamorphosis-or the purpose behind it.

Hearing him approach, Paula swung her feet over the tree trunk so she was facing him.

A thought had the bio-metal armour slip away from Shaidar's face. While he could speak through it with no trouble, he preferred not to under these circumstances.

"Still no sign of those creatures?" Shaidar asked, sitting down by her side. According to what he'd learned, Grimm weren't as common around the Kingdoms, thanks in part to the locals killing any large groups they could find. But he wasn't about to be caught flat footed by leaving it to chances.

Paula folded her arms, "Nothing yet." Turning her head away from him, the Cerberi looked out in the direction he'd walked from. Towards where the city of Vale was lazily stirring from its morning slumber. Narrowing her golden eyes, she said, "So we're looking at seemingly modern tech, but a distinct sense of background magic. Unusual—those two things rarely coexist from what I've seen."

Magic. Even after almost a year, a tiny part of him still wasn't used to the idea of what Paula and her people were capable of. Which was the source of his disquiet. Paula's abilities both looked and acted like magic. Even to the point that the Shadows weren't quite sure how those abilities worked either. But that didn't make it mystical or magical. Merely a science they haven't yet unraveled.

As a Techno-mage, Shaidar had been accused of being an actual wizard, warlock or even less flattering names. The truth was he and his people simply used technology to emulate magic and he still found himself struggling to explain the abilities he'd observed here. He wasn't used to being the one trying to figure out how things worked and he didn't like it.

"This world does have its fair share of curiosities," the Techno-mage agreed, drawing her attention back to him as he considered his words. A new planet was a lot to take in and they couldn't afford to remain out here for much longer.

True, they had advantages for now. The hill, besides being empty of Grimm, gave them a good chance of spotting anything that might approach. Anything that came by land would be slowed by having to go uphill to get to them- as he'd planned. But there was no guarantee of how long it'd remain free of Grimm.

Of course, skimping on the details too much could also cause problems. Knowledge, after all, was power. Besides, it was better to remain here then to try to walk and talk, all while remaining on guard.

It was unfortunate that they weren't both Techno-mages or telepaths. It would have been much easier for him to share what he'd learned. His mind had been fortified against telepathic intrusions when he'd joined the Shadows. And the nature of Paula's powers made it impossible to make her a Techno-mage, even if she'd desired it. Still, there was no one else he'd rather have by his side right now.

So he told her of the ravenous and mysterious Creatures of Grimm. So mysterious, in fact, that no one knew where they came from. To the point that the Grimm might as well spring out of holes in the ground. How the locals had to use visual sights or lasers to reliably target them in a fight. That the Grimm evaporated into into black smoke, leaving nothing behind when killed. A trait that caused Paula to comment that the Grimm were sounding more and more like the demons she'd fought.

With that out of the way, he moved on to the four Kingdoms, and how the world outside of them were scattered towns admit monster-infested wilds. How, despite everything else, the Kingdoms were shockingly similar to the Western societies of Earth. With the only true difference over all being the Kingdoms placed a greater focus on individualism. Even the language they spoke was standard American English, with smatterings of other Terran languages and accents as well.

In fact, Shaidar Gorthule had noticed that back at the forest clearing when he'd first picked up on radio transmissions from the Kingdoms, but had forgotten to mention it there. He'd had more pressing issues on his mind then.

"Huh. Between the Grimm and everything else, it's like a magical science experiment. Like some of the stunts kids at 'magic school' pulled, only a lot bigger. Wonderful." Paula said.

"But fortunate for us."

"Mm. Yeah, at least we can communicate if need be," came her accented reply.

"True. As for the locals, they're known as Remnans. They tend to refer to themselves by race or as citizens of their respective Kingdoms. Happily for us, they're more or less human."

Paula tilted her head. "More or less? The last time someone told me that, it ended up being the planet of the cat people."

Shaidar was surprised. Paula didn't too often speak about her past. Doubly so when it involved time traveling with the Doctor. Though he'd managed to piece together that the Doctor she'd known was a ginger-haired man who'd died fighting someone called 'the Valeyard'.

"Interesting you'd say that. Turns out the local humans share this world with human sub-species called 'Faunus'. Each has a minor animal feature- an extra set of ears, a tail, that sort of thing. Most of them also have better night-vision than humans."

"Fascinating," Paula deadpanned. "Might support my theory this place is a magical experiment, might not – the other cat people were aliens."

He shook his head. "I doubt it. Everything I could find points to both Faunus and humans being indigenous to this world. As for their history, it's been a turbulent one. Faunus only gained equality under the law several decades ago thanks to the Faunus War. Or Faunus Rights Revolution, depending on who you talk to."

That the war, like the Great War before it, had occurred at all was unsurprising. As was the resentment and disenfranchisement that followed its outcome.

It was thanks to this realization, that the Shadows and those who served them embraced a philosophy of 'evolution through chaos'. True strength came from overcoming obstacles, from facing great challenges and surviving them. As one of those many servants, part of Shaidar Gorthule's job was to help encourage conflict and turmoil. Societies and species had to adapt or weather the storm of conflict as best they could. Those who did not would perish, leaving room for those who survived to rise up stronger and better than before.

With all that said, too much chaos- anarchy- was just as harmful as no conflict at all. Chaos in the Shadow's philosophy was a means to an end, not the end goal itself. Too much conflict would wear a civilization down to nothing. And a civilization that constantly fought and back-stabbed among itself would likewise collapse in short order.

"I bet that worked out great," Paula interjected with a sarcastic drawl.

"It solved a lot of problems on paper. Less in practice." Shaidar agreed. "The whole wonderful mess isn't helped by a handful of opportunists, radicals and fanatics on both sides. Not that we need to worry about them. In fact, if we're fortunate, they might be blamed for the destruction our arrival caused."

Shaidar found the robbery of the Schnee Dust Company train-line several months ago a curious change to the White Fang's overall strategy. Then there was the further lack of escalation in activity. Compounded with what he'd been able to learn from intelligence reports about the Fang's numbers and probable resources, it pointed to the attack being a one-off. A desperate move to both deny the SDC of merchandise and a way for the Fang to make a profit by selling off the stolen Dust themselves.

One man's terrorist might be another's freedom fighter, but in either case, the pay still sucked and logistics still mattered.

"Well, that's good for us."

"Very much so," Shaidar confirmed. "As for the humans, you're lucky on two counts. Odd eye and hair colors are rather common here. Whats more, ever since a world war eighty years ago, a tradition was started of having names evocative of colours or based off of art."

"Huh." Paula considered. "That is useful. For us both. You might need an alias, though."

"I was thinking of using Justin Blackwood. Unfortunately, my eyes are a little too unusual, even for this place. So it's back to hiding them behind holograms again."

The best false identities, he knew, were the ones similar to a person's actual name. It was easier to remember and more liable to be responded to instinctively. Which presented a slight problem. There weren't any that he could imagine responding to or were commonplace enough not to stick out that sounded like 'Shaidar Gorthule'. Meaning he was back to using a name close to the one he'd been born with.

"Don't want them thinking you're a new form of their Grimm." Paula agreed. "Also, Blackwood? So are we cousins?"

He blinked, seeing the mischief in her golden eyes. "...I should certainly hope not, given the things we've done together." Which was the most polite euphemism that he could come up with at the moment.

"You know," Paula teased further, "in some cultures that wouldn't matter a damn." At his reaction, she laughed. "Easy, there. I don't want to be cousins either. I just couldn't resist "

"Thought as much." A slight grin quirked at the corners of his mouth. "Didn't think you'd support that sort of thing either, but nice to have it confirmed."

Paula rolled her eyes, but she was smiling a little. "Glad to help."

As much as he wanted to continue bantering, work took precedence. The dark-haired man recognized the banter for what it was. Both part of her normal personality and her letting what uneasiness she felt at the whole situation show. The later of which showed in her vital signs as well. Even with everything she'd seen and experienced beforehand, it was only natural to feel a little nervous. He was no different.

Growing serious once more, he said, ''Unfortunately, it's not all fish and chips either. You're not the only one here with preternatural abilities. Everything on this planet, outside of the Grimm, has what the locals call an 'Aura'. According to them, it's a manifestation of the soul."

Of course, just because the Remnans thought Aura was the power of the soul didn't make it true. But as was the case with Paula's magic, there was no way of proving it one way or another. Which was why Shaidar saw no point in bringing it up now.

Together with the Grimm and the cultural similarities to Earth, the existence of Aura was another reason to suspect that Remnant was the result of some sort of experiment. It was unusual for a species to naturally develop what amounted to superpowers. Even with no solid proof of an outside force being responsible, it was more than enough to make him wary. He'd encountered the results of places like this before.

"Hmm." Paula said, thoughtful. "Well, a kind of magic would explain what I sense about this place. So what does this Aura do?"

"Well, it heals simple injuries and works as a personal energy shield. Albeit one that can't filter out smoke or airborne toxins. With training and experience, Aura can also enhances physical strength, speed and reflexes. Enough to pull off martial arts acrobatics right out of Hollywood."

"You said experienced- I assume there's a difference?"

"A considerable one. Aura strength depends experience, training, and innate skill. Most civilians don't have unlocked Auras, and those who that do tend to have little. Anyway, all this brings us to something that's right up your alley."

"How so?" asked the redhead.

"This world has a naturally occurring mineral called 'Dust'. Not only is it used as an energy source in place of everything from petrol to gunpowder, but as powerful specialized ammunition or an elemental sorcery. Providing a person has the training and Aura to trigger it of course. Also, the different types can be mixed to make new ones with unique properties."

"Huh. Powdered potion," Paula quipped. "Not precisely, of course—sounds a lot less complex, but still."

"Perhaps. It's something you might want to look into anyway. We should use every advantage we can get in this place."

"Assuming I can tap into their magic." She pointed out "It's quite likely I can't—it wouldn't be the first time a different magic system was inaccessible—but worth testing."

Even if Paula could use it, being 'non-magical' meant that Shaidar couldn't use Dust for anything beyond mundane purposes. Which was unfortunate, if unlikely to prove fatal. Being a Techno-mage meant he could replicate most of what Dust offered. Though there were of course limitations to his abilities.

"Of course. There's one other thing. Dust can also be used to augment Semblances, a unique Aura ability that can be unlocked with time and effort. Which seems to mirror some aspect of a person's character. Most tend to be physical or combat oriented."

If these 'Semblances' were based on defining personality traits as claimed, it could open a lot of potential. He could use it to gain insight into psychological weaknesses and behaviors which he and Paula could exploit, should it be necessary. He'd always been good at that sort of thing.

The Techno-mage gave a tight ghost of a smile as he continued. "The good news is that Aura is a finite source of power. As a protective force, it's depleted with every hit they take. Using their Semblance or augment their physical abilities drains a person's Aura as well. So to avoid running out of it in the middle of a battle, they tend to be conservative instead of going all out. Also, Aura isn't always active. It has to be consciously called up. Without it, Remnans are no tougher than normal humans."

"Makes sense." Paula mused. "Magic always drains, if you do enough of it. Active powers in particular. This sounds like a magic system primarily based on active powers."

"It does match up with what you've told me in the past." Shaidar agreed. It was also similar how his abilities worked to a certain degree as well. "There is one difference. The Remnans can track Aura levels electronically with what amounts to a glorified application on what they call a Scroll- their version of a cell-phone."

Paula's eyebrows shot up. "Well, that's...interesting."

"I thought so too. Unfortunately, the software I downloaded wouldn't calibrate with my sensors. So I can't be certain how well I'll be able to detect Aura with them."

"Oh. Still," the Cerberi replied, "at least it'll be easy enough for us to get our hands on. Useful too if we get into a fight."

"I don't doubt it's doable, if a bit difficult for our purposes. It seems it's more a reference to ensure no one's injured during tournament-style fights for Hunters. It's all quite curious."

"Weird. It can't be an issue of technology, because it can run on a cell phone..." Paula murmured.

He nodded. "As I see it, either no one's considered using the technology offensively. Or it wasn't developed further to keep the balance of power in favor of the Hunters."

"Speaking of which, who are these 'hunters' you keep mentioning? Some group dedicated to fighting the Grimm?"

"In part, yes." Shaidar Gorthule felt the return of a tingling of nervousness nibbling at the base of his spine. Not quite fear, but instead a clear understanding of the stakes involved. Beside, very little truly alarmed him anymore.

While the Hunters- or more precisely, Huntsmen and Huntresses- were formidable threats, they were not unmanageable ones. Considering the total lack of telepathic Semblances, they might be even more manageable than they first appeared. But that depended on factors involving Aura itself and the sort of mental protections might grant. Given Aura's connection to magic, he'd be asking Paula about that before making any assumptions.

For a moment, Shaidar wished Paula had been wearing her armour when they'd been transported here. It would have given her at least some physical protection if they had to fight Hunters. But that regret was fleeting. No sense wishing and lamenting for what they didn't have.

Nonetheless, if forced into combat against Hunters, he'd recommend having fear, surprise and intimidation on their side to ensure they had a clear certainty at winning.

Keeping all that firmly in mind, he told Paula what he knew.

-RWBY-

Ruby's stomach twisted in nervous excitement.

Taking care not to bump her head, she ducked under the top bunk and finished spreading the map she'd gotten from Beacon's library across Blake's bed. The map of Vale was so large that it wouldn't fit on the four desks that lined the front of the room in pairs.

Pulling one of several cheerios she'd snuck out of Beacon's cafeteria from a pocket, Ruby placed it on the map.

From one side of her, Weiss looked on. On the other, stood her big sister Yang. She couldn't be certain, but she had a feeling Yang was trying to hide a smile.

"Okay, so we'll check out the places Blake likes to hang out at first." Ruby said, moving the lone cheerio with down the streets on the map. She thought of the list of addresses she and Yang had spent yesterday coming up with.

"If she hasn't been to any of those spots, we'll..." Ruby searched her vocabulary and tried to copy Weiss. "Reconnoiter any hotels we can find."

Despite whatever arguments they had, she and Weiss where still friends. And she kinda hoped that it'd help make her partner more comfortable with what she had planned. Going by the look on Weiss's face, Ruby could see that she was only somewhat successful.

"Um. Ruby, I don't think hotels are going to tell us who their customers are." Yang pointed out.

"Well, we can always ask right?" Ruby replied, deflating a little. She wondered how Yang knew that- but she was the older sister after all. It made sense she'd know more.

-RWBY-

Shaidar Gorthule stepped through the walls of Vale and onto the Kingdom's streets. It was an action he undertook with all the effort of stepping from one room to another. Covered in armor once more and standing atop a platform, his feet hovered a few inches above the ground.

The Kingdoms' inhabitants took no notice of him as they went about their morning commute. There was no way they could have. In the depths of the other-world dimension of phase-space, Shaidar was both invisible and intangible.

The world around him was dim, like just before a storm. The sounds of people about him was faint and distant. Colors were weak, washed out like an old photo left in the sun for years. Likewise, the crowds of people and the noise they made were equally as pale and faint. A twisted, swirling mist filled the busy street.

A notification flashed in the corner of Shaidar's vision. Accessing it, he found the program he'd sent out earlier to plant identities and the like for him and Paula had finally completed its task. Not that he'd doubted it'd have any difficulty in carrying out his instructions. There were plenty of cracks in every wall. Even with its limited processing power, the program had found and exploited them.

Compared to the technology of the Shadows, the inventions of this world might as well be out of Earth's Bronze Age. This observation wasn't a slight against the people of Remnant. They'd done an impressive job at adapting and surviving, so far as he was concerned. It wasn't as if any of the Earths he'd been to were that much more advanced. Including the one he'd been born on. It'd been all but identical to Paula's Earth, including alien attacks and cover-ups, and had been forever lost to him for years.

Of course, Shaidar Gorthule knew a clever and determined opponent could still provide problems. Technological superiority did not make one unbeatable by a long shot.

Spotting an alleyway a little further in, he headed towards it, passing through people like a ghost along the way. Caution made him move a little slower than before. While being phased muffled most sound, it didn't cancel it out completely.

All the while, Shaidar kept a firm eye on the probe he'd planted on Paula shirt collar. It transmitted the image of her standing warily back on the hillside, along with other data to him. The microelectronic device was no larger than a good-sized grain of sand. It'd only been sheer, dumb luck he'd had a handful of the probes lying in the bottom of his pocket when they'd arrived on Remnant.

Only when he was several yards into the dim alleyway between buildings did he stop. Lowering himself all the way to the ground, he dissolved the platform.

With a final glance around to make sure no one might be watching, he stepped through into the normal world. A patch of air in the ally twisted and warped, like a heat-shimmer on a hot summer's day. There was a whisper of sound that was swallowed up by the everyday noises of a city. Shaidar Gorthule slipped out from the shadows, as if they had just given birth to him.

The new mottled gray pattern of his armor blended in well with gloom of an urban environment. At least before he threw up an illusion of an empty alleyway around him. For good measure, he created a soundproof dome that encompassed the area within the illusion as well. Just as no sound from within would pass into the alley, no sound from the alley could penetrate within. That done, he sent a message through the probe, telling Paula that he was in position and the coast was clear.

While both he and the Shadows could phase-cloak, his was crude and limited compared to their mastery. Among other things, unlike the Shadows, he couldn't bring anyone with him into phased-space. Which was even less than what the vat-grown warriors, melodramatically called 'soldiers of darkness' by their adversaries, could do. Given that and Paula's limitations with her teleportation, they'd been forced into this course of action.

A tight cloud of shimmering bright blue orbs filled the air as she teleported next to him. A moment's concentration to his armor had the bio-metal flowed away, retreating as it was dispelled. It's matter transforming back into energy, which was re-absorbed. There was no reason to keep it on any longer. By the time the blue glow faded away a few seconds later to reveal Paula, the armor had all but vanished. Exposing the simple black uniform he wore beneath.

"Well, that was fun. Even if it beats trying to go in the front door and having to answer a lot of awkward questions."

"Or trying to get over the wall by flying." He replied, removing a matching pair of silver rank pins from his collar. They were triangular in shape, with a stylized bas-relief image of an upraised black hand on them. The image marked him out among for forces of the Shadows as their personal agent- and was the cause for his change of name.

As for flying over the walls- Shaidar hadn't want to risk the off chance that Vale's defenses would detect them through whatever shroud he could make by sheer weight of having that many sensors pointing in the same direction. Not to mention what would happen if a flock of Nevermores swarmed him and Paula in the air. Even if the small Grimm proved to be a mere inconvenience- Vales' many surface-to-air weapons being fired at them wouldn't be.

"Is anyone looking this way?" He continued, while weaving a hologram around himself. There was no way his black outfit would be mistaken for anything than a military uniform. Even with Remnant's hyper-focus on individualization, it would only make him stand out more than he'd like.

In an instant, it was finished. A full-body illusion covered him completely; giving him the appearance of a green-eye human dressed in a dark blue shirt and black trousers of local style. It was realistic enough to withstand even careful study. The full body illusion was necessary and easier to maintain. As attempting to just hide his eyes and clothing would have given him an odd and somewhat disproportionate appearance.

"Not in particular. Your program pull through?"

"That it did. Think you can put up a little telepathic 'notice me not' around both of us until we get out of the alleyway?"

What Shaidar was asking wouldn't make him and Paula invisible. Instead, it subtly altered people's perception to make both of them unnoticed. It was a projected field- but not an intrusive one telepathically. People's eyes would just slide off them. It was one of her best skills as a telepath.

"Sure. I was thinking about doing that to myself anyway until I can get a cleaned up and a change of clothes."

"That's probably a good idea." He agreed. Although Paula didn't look bad for someone who'd spent the past few hours in the forest, she was still a bit disheveled. Her face and clothing was streaked here and there with dirt. The energy pistol at her side wasn't much of a concern. Given how diverse the weapon designs were on Remnant, it wouldn't attract much attention.

Technological limitations on his part meant it would be much more difficult for Shaidar to cover her in the same sort of full-body illusion that he now hid behind. "You ready?"

"Yep. Let's go," she replied.

As the pair headed off, Shaidar dispelled the hologram of the empty alley and the sound-proof dome behind them. Soon the pair of them had disappeared into the crowd, becoming just two more people among many.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note-
> 
> To clarify any confusion about Shaidar's line about people tending to use their Aura conservatively; given what we've been told and why the capabilities of various Hunters seem to fluctuate somewhat in canon from scene to scene, my explanation is that Aura works like how the Jedi/Sith use the Force in Star Wars. Yes, they can use Aura/the Force to make them move really fast, jump really high and so on. But they don't have it dialed up to that intensity all the time because they have to worry about tiring themselves out.
> 
> As for Cinder, based on what we see in the later Volumes, as well as her flashback conversation with Salem in V3, I'm of the view that Cinder as we saw her in the early Volumes was something of an act. A facade she put up to try to awe and intimidate others.
> 
> To my mind, this makes Cinder a much more interesting character then she first appeared to be. Even better, it makes her a great foil for not just the canon characters of RWBY and JNPR, but also Shaidar Gorthule (an affably evil, well-intentioned extremist, anti-villain) and Paula Ravenwood (a dark action/dark magical girl with some femme fatale elements to her).
> 
> Anyway, I'm curious to hear what people think of this chapter. Out of all the ones I've written, this is the one that gave me the most problems- and I cannot thank my betas enough for helping me knock it into shape.


End file.
